2024 Touring Car Thread - BTCC, TCR, and more.Touring Cars 

MagpieRacer

MagpieRacer

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Seagull_Racer
Let's get 2023 into it's own thread.

In BTCC the big news is that Team Dynamics have stepped back from the series for 2023, whilst they will still support One Motorsport and back their other projects globally. The economy hitting them hard, it will be sad to see them off the grid but hopefully they can return.

Elsewhere, Nic Hamilton and Team HARD continue their partnership, revealing his 2023 Cupra.


Meanwhile, TCR UK gets underway this weekend at Snetterton with what promises to be a record entry list for the series, including Team Dynamics.

TCR UK @ Snetterton April 2023

www.snetterton.co.uk www.snetterton.co.uk
 
Seeing how good the FL5 looks in TCR-guise makes me eager to see it in NGTC form in the near future. Something for 2024 perhaps 🤞? Would be a neat way for Team Dynamics to return from a hiatus with a new FL5 build, in traditional Halfords orange ;).

MagpieRacer
Elsewhere, Nic Hamilton and Team HARD continue their partnership, revealing his 2023 Cupra.
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Nic's Cupra is looking great. As per his 2023 aspirations that he mentions in that reveal, seeing him as a more regular points scorer would be awesome. Same goes for all the Team Hard entries really 👍. Hamiltons one of the most admirable individuals on the grid for what he stands for, and rightly so.
 
Michelin Man
Nic's Cupra is looking great. As per his 2023 aspirations that he mentions in that reveal, seeing him as a more regular points scorer would be awesome. Same goes for all the Team Hard entries really 👍. Hamiltons one of the most admirable individuals on the grid for what he stands for, and rightly so.
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I find it somewhat conflicting with Nic. I've nothing against him personally, I've met him a few times at races and he seems like a really genuine, down to earth guy and his attitude to his fans is great.. I'd really like to see him do well.

... but ... to succeed in his cause he's got to demonstrate that disabled drivers can compete on an even footing and for whatever reason, he currently isn't. 1 point from 117 races... and that came in a race where he was 15th from 18 finishers. I'll stand my fat, lazy, ass up off the sofa to applaud, whilst choking back the tears, if he ever set foot on the podium...

But, disability aside, I don't think he's got the underlying skill set to do it.... all he's proving so far is what we already know, irrespective of race, gender/sex, able vs. diffabled... it's that money talks - you get the drive if you have the money. Nic is no different to Turk in this respect so please understand I'm not Nic-bashing, it's the side of motorsport I hate.. but the bottom line, is without reasonable success, Nic's actions do little for Nic's cause... and I really want to stress, this isn't a hot take, I really would get very emotional seeing him get up their, it would be great... but what he's achieved so far, is buying a seat - same as most of the grid.
 
The 2023 BTCC season launch got under way today 👍 .

Morning-testing-2023-story.png


Along with all the media day stuff, there was the usual day of official testing too, with defending Champ Ingram topping the times by the end of the day. Of course, not much to read into at this early stage.

_20230412_185354.JPG

Just 10 days to go until the first round at Donington gets under way!
 
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Michelin Man
The 2023 BTCC season launch got under way today 👍 .

View attachment 1247308

Along with all the media day stuff, there was the usual day of official testing too, with defending Champ Ingram topping the times by the end of the day. Of course, not much to read into at this early stage.

View attachment 1247309
Just 10 days to go until the first round at Donington gets under way!
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Worth noting that 25 cars started the day, and we were missing 2 of the Team HARD Cupras from the day. So should be 27 on the grid come round 1.

Good turnout at Brands as well, was completely free entry for the public with a lunchtime pit walk.
 
MagpieRacer
Worth noting that 25 cars started the day, and we were missing 2 of the Team HARD Cupras from the day. So should be 27 on the grid come round 1.

Good turnout at Brands as well, was completely free entry for the public with a lunchtime pit walk.
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Good point, forgot to mention there absence. Running as a whole was curtailes slightly due to the weather. 27 is a solid number in terms of entries. Says something about the consistent popularity of the sport, when anything lower than 25 or so full-time entries feels "low".

Aye, looks like great value as a day out for a spectator. It's been a great move in recent years to combine the media day and official testing as full season launch. Would like to head over for one at some point in the future.

I'm off to Donington for Round 1, so really looking forward to it. In fact, I've booked trips to Oulton, Silverstone and the Donington GP round later in year. First time I'll be going to multiple BTCC rounds in a single year :D.
 
Michelin Man
Good point, forgot to mention there absence. Running as a whole was curtailes slightly due to the weather. 27 is a solid number in terms of entries. Says something about the consistent popularity of the sport, when anything lower than 25 or so full-time entries feels "low".

Aye, looks like great value as a day out for a spectator. It's been a great move in recent years to combine the media day and official testing as full season launch. Would like to head over for one at some point in the future.

I'm off to Donington for Round 1, so really looking forward to it. In fact, I've booked trips to Oulton, Silverstone and the Donington GP round later in year. First time I'll be going to multiple BTCC rounds in a single year :D.
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I'd love to do Oulton at some point. I live 20 minutes from Snetterton so I'm hoping I can get to that round in May, been a few years since I last went, save for the official tyre test at the track last summer.

The Diamond weekend at Snetterton was one of the best in recent memory, the 'endurance' race they did as race 3 and all the off track stuff they had going on was an incredible weekend.
 
Har1MAS1415
Not a disappointing grid by any means for this year's British Touring Car Championship.
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No not disappointing overall, but it has declined. Used to seeing 30/31 and we're down to 27 as a maximum, the loss of TD is a big shame, the biggest concern is their reasoning was cost and lack of sponsorship. With the rise of TCR UK getting stronger, I do wonder if BTCC is at risk of becoming too expensive and if more teams will ultimately follow suit. I hope not, but it wouldn't be the first time it has happened.
 
For Dynamics, I suspect the combination of the Pandemic, the lack of income that brought, and Honda pulling out as manufacturer didn't help. A snowball effect that has perhaps built up over the last few years.

Would be a great shame to lose them completely from the grid, so I hope it's nothing more than a short hiatus 🤞.
 
MagpieRacer
No not disappointing overall, but it has declined. Used to seeing 30/31 and we're down to 27 as a maximum, the loss of TD is a big shame, the biggest concern is their reasoning was cost and lack of sponsorship. With the rise of TCR UK getting stronger, I do wonder if BTCC is at risk of becoming too expensive and if more teams will ultimately follow suit. I hope not, but it wouldn't be the first time it has happened.
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Also Alan Gow won't be around forever. He'll have to name a successor eventually.
 
MagpieRacer
No not disappointing overall, but it has declined. Used to seeing 30/31 and we're down to 27 as a maximum, the loss of TD is a big shame, the biggest concern is their reasoning was cost and lack of sponsorship. With the rise of TCR UK getting stronger, I do wonder if BTCC is at risk of becoming too expensive and if more teams will ultimately follow suit. I hope not, but it wouldn't be the first time it has happened.
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It's hardly 2001 or 2005 all over again for a start...
 
MagpieRacer
Yet. We'll see what happens, we're a long way from that lull but when you look how quickly it declined from the late 90s, we aren't out of the woods.
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Late 90's was the tail end of the Super Tourers. They were getting stupidly expensive to run it was hard for any team that wasn't manufacturer supported to compete. The current BTCC regs with plenty of common spec/off-the-shelf parts, make it much more accessible for smaller teams. If not quite TCR cheap, but cheap enough.

I see Team Dynamics following JRT down the lucrative historic motorsport preperation route. When you can build a competitive car for £40-50k, sell it to a client for £90-100k then charge them £1000's to run it for them for a season, it's a no-brainer if you have the skills and facilities to do so.
 
TheCracker
Late 90's was the tail end of the Super Tourers. They were getting stupidly expensive to run it was hard for any team that wasn't manufacturer supported to compete. The current BTCC regs with plenty of common spec/off-the-shelf parts, make it much more accessible for smaller teams. If not quite TCR cheap, but cheap enough.

I see Team Dynamics following JRT down the lucrative historic motorsport preperation route. When you can build a competitive car for £40-50k, sell it to a client for £90-100k then charge them £1000's to run it for them for a season, it's a no-brainer if you have the skills and facilities to do so.
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They are still supporting BTC/One Motorsport in some capacity at least.
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again... he might be a great touring car driver, but Sutton is such a whiney little *****. Congrats to Cammish anyway.
 

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